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Woman posed as sphinx: autochrome photo by Dr. W. Simon, c. 1910 (George Eastman House)
I walked in a desert.
And I cried,
"Ah, God, take me from this place!"
A voice said, "It is no desert."
I cried, "Well, But --
The sand, the heat, the vacant horizon."
A voice said, "It is no desert."
Stephen Crane (1871-1900): "I walked in a desert", from The Black Riders (1895)
Foolish House, Ontario Beach Park, Greece, New York: autochrome photo by Charles C. Zoller (1854-1934), c. 1910 (George Eastman House)